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Page 289
fear to leave the keep unguarded or fear the weather or the dangers of the road. These days the safest place for a woman, unless a man has a large retinue, is in her own keep.''
"Yes, that is true. So, thinking of those matters, Sir Peter will go in peace and come home hale and heartyor, if he does not, it will not be by my doing or even my wishing."
Amusement had returned to Ian's eyes. "Alinor, I find it hard to believe you have done nothing at all."
"I do not ask you to believe it. I have sent messengerswho will surely outride Sir Peterto the garrison of the keep, civilly informing the men of my marriage and the fact that my husband, Lord Ian de Vipont, is my deputy and, thus, to be obeyed above the order of any other man. I reminded them that my marriage changes nothing, that their first loyalty is to me, and that if Lord Ian seeks entrance to my keep and it is not opened to him, with or without Sir Peter's permission, my vengeance will fall upon them, and not lightly." Alinor paused and examined Ian's face. "Now what is wrong?"
"To suborn Sir Peter's men"
"They are not his!" Alinor exclaimed explosively, her eyes wide, her lips drawn back from her teeth. "They are mine! Mine to me!"
"Alinor!"
She drew breath. "They are mine," she said more quietly. "Every year, except when I was in the Holy Land and the one year when Simon was ill, I have gone myself to pay them and to give them, as agreed, a suit of clothes and shoes. I have seen, I myself, not Sir Peter, that their mail was sound, that their food was good. I have listened in private to their complaints. I have taken their oathsoaths to me!"
"I am not contesting your right," Ian said slowly, "but to go behind Sir Peter's back"

 
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